Investors

Public funding to create the CPGR was initially provided by the Biotech Regional Investment Centres (BRICs), funding vehicles that had been created in the early 2000s to make strategic investments into the biotech sector in South Africa. In 2010, the existing entities were merged into the Technology Innovation Agency (TIA) to achieve enhanced levels of operational efficiency and alignment of national strategies.

The Technology Innovation Agency (TIA or the Agency) was established in terms of the TIA Act, 2008 (Act No. 26 of 2008), with the objective of “Stimulating and intensifying technological innovation in order to improve economic growth and the quality of life of all South Africans by developing and exploiting technological innovations”.

The Agency is set up as a public entity with the aim to enhance the country’s capacity to translate a greater proportion of local research and development into commercial technology products and services. The TIA is tasked with exploiting the existing body of knowledge at universities and public research institutions and channelling it effectively towards the development of technology based industries.